L's Successors
by Fairylust
Summary: Mel is abandoned one night by his father at an orphanage known as Whammy's. Making friends and growing up he learns of his mysterious father a bit...as well as about a few other things that are probably best staying buried...
1. Abandoned: Mel

Yeah, I know I shouldn't, but I'm gonna post a new story for fanfiction. I mean I'm hip deep (if not more) in fanfictions that need to be completed, but I'm gonna post this and hope it pleases you all despite the fact almost all of the characters are OCs.

Please enjoy, because I aim to please.

Review, favorite, alert, etc.

Whatever ya want to do! I don't care as long as you're happy!

**~Luv to all who read this Fairylust~**

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Opening his cold azure eyes Mel realized something wasn't quite right. His bleached blonde hair fell into his face messily. He fixed it before he sat up and looked around the room, which was anything, but familiar to him. His six-year-old mind couldn't quite process where he was or why he was there. He quickly realized that there was a girl sitting on a bed across from him. She sat beside a boy, who seemed to pay her no mind. Mel didn't recognize either of them. The girl had chestnut brown hair that was double braided and she wore a lacy pinkish blue dress. She had large brown eyes and her skin was sun kissed. She appeared about two years older than him and seemed rather shy.

The boy, who looked about his age, had short copper red hair with hazel colored eyes and pale skin. He also had noticeable bags (**A/N**: not as dark as the _**first **_L's) beneath his eyes. He wore a baggy gray shirt with skinny jeans and mismatched socks, one sock being pink and the other green; there was also a red bandanna tied around his right wrist and goggles rested around his neck. He looked so mismatched and so colorfully clothed that Mel thought he could've been in a circus of some sort. He shuddered as he thought of clowns.

Mel hated clowns.

They were creepy freaks in his personal judgment.

The girl was watching the boy play a video game on some type of portable game system. Mel looked at them feeling really confused. Where was his papa? His papa had been with him before he fell asleep. He jumped off the bed getting the attention of the other two children. "Where am I?" he asked. He was given odd stares then sympathetic ones, which sorta irked him. "Whammy's House Orphanage." The boy replied after a moment.

_Orphanage? _Mel thought confused._ But I'm not an orphan._

"Your daddy brought you here last night while you were asleep." The girl explained, as if she had read his mind. "Sorry about that." She added kindheartedly, but Mel shot her a brief glare, before his eyes went wide with realization at what he had just been told.

"You mean he abandoned me!" Mel almost screamed in disbelief. The boy and girl just stared at him. Neither made a move to answer his question, seeing as the answer was so blatantly obvious. "Did he say anything when he left me?" He asked eagerly, knowing they weren't gonna answer his first question, since the answer was painfully clear to all of them. "Probably, but he would have told the old man." The boy said shrugging carelessly. "Sorry, but I would say you're lucky."

"How the hell am I lucky?" Mel hissed hugging himself, holding back his tears. He blinked and realized that his father's use of language had rubbed off on him after the few years Mel had heard it. He took a deep, shaky breath trying not to cry. "How am I, at all, lucky?" he asked more calmly feeling proud he actually controlled his temper that time.

"Well, your dad didn't die." The boy pointed out. "So I'd say that's a good thing. Wouldn't you? I mean, my dad, he died. Lung cancer, so my mom said, but go figure. He was a chain-smoker, had it comin' from what I was told. And even though I didn't know him too well I still miss him." He held his portable game system tightly as he looked at Mel, who seemed to be mulling his answer over.

After a minute he sighed and looked at the boy with a sheepish stare. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." Mel muttered. He couldn't hate his papa no matter how hard he'd tried. He _had_ taken good care of Mel and no matter how the boy looked at it he just couldn't hate the man who was responsible for his existence and current health. He couldn't hate the person who had played with him and been so gentle with him, while he was rough and tetchy with everybody else, who were around him.

"What's your name?" the girl asked to change the subject. "I bet it's nice."

"M.J." Mel replied sniffling sadly. "M.J. Kheel."

"No, not your _real _name." She said appearing as if he'd just slugged her. "You can't use _that_ name! The people here said that we _couldn't _use our _real _names we have to use our aliases. They said we couldn't tell _anyone_ our real names. The big people said so!"

"Pfft. Liar." The boy scoffed rolling his eyes. "We can share names amongst our friends, but you gotta promise not to tell anybody."

"Oh, well, my papa said that I would be called Mel once I broke away from him, but I didn't know he meant…." the boy shook his head as if shaking the memory away and smiled a small cheerful smile that the other two children, easily figured out, that it was fake. Looking at them he spoke in his best fake cheerful voice possible, while his stomach lurched. "I think that's my new name…yeah, I guess, I'm Mel, now."

"Hi, Mel, I'm Glenda, but my _real_ name is Ginger." She said smiling a friendly smile. "My brother and me were left here by our mommy, so don't feel so bad. I know what you're probably feeling. Okay?" she said appearing rather friendly, yet timid.

Mel nodded feeling, as though, he could vomit. It was as if by instinct he didn't like this girl, yet he _didn't _entirely hate her.

"I've got a big brother. His name is Tommy Jeevas, but he isn't here with me. I think we were separated or something. My name is Cabal, but my _real_ name is Matteo Jeevas. I'm blessed or at least that's what my first, not alias, _real_ name translates into. Dunno why my dad wanted me to be named that, but he did, well, that was what mom said and she didn't lie, so here I am with a name that means Arthur's dog! Who is Arthur and why do _I _have to be his dog? That's just twisted. It'd make more sense if I were named Eadig. I mean at least the translation is the same! What do you think Xanio?"

"Huh?"

"It means flaxen-haired."

Mel gave him a confused expression.

"Are you really supposed to be here?" Cabal asked incredulously then.

Mel crossed his arms in front of his chest and stood shaking slightly. "No," he replied angrily, "I am not supposed to be here! I'm supposed to be with my papa elsewhere. I don't know why I'm here, but I think it's because I did something wrong, something to make him not want me anymore. And, you know, just because I don't know those thorny words, like you do, doesn't mean you should be such a jerk to me."

"It means blonde." Cabal said with a sigh. "Blonde. Like you."

"Oh," Mel said blinking for a few seconds then replying, "I think your name is nice. Both of them, but how do you know what they mean?"

"Just do." Cabal shrugged. "Dad and Mom let me look up all kinds of things on my laptop, but Mom said that when I was little he'd tell me stuff. He was really smart. After he died my mom encouraged me to keep learning stuff that he said would be useful some day, so she pushed me to learn. I already know fourteen different languages and where babies come from. Do you fuckin' know? Huh?"

Nobody spoke.

Cabal smirked bitterly. "I'm the only one here who knows that makes me special!" he said in what could have been mistaken for an enthusiastic voice.

The girl sat quietly rolling her eyes.

"Specially retarded." Mel muttered feeling a little dizzy.

"Shut up!" the redhead spat. "I'm totally unique! You can't take that away from me, Mr. M.J. so piss off, Blondie!"

"Do you like playing video games?" Mel asked ignoring Cabal's insult and foul language. The redhead nodded slowly. "Can I play your game later?"

Cabal nodded numbly staring down at his game, which must have been paused. "Yeah, after I win you can play." He said sounding really friendly. Mel nodded understandingly and stood silently watching the girl with icy blue eyes. Cabal also looked at her. She knew it was her cue to leave the two boys' room. She jumped from the bed. "Um, I guess I'll go find Jacob." Glenda said hesitantly. "Oh, and Mel, his real name is Geoff. And he's my twin brother. Kay?" with that said she raced from the room leaving Mel and Cabal alone in silence.

The redhead shrugged and continued his game. The blonde listened to the beeping sounds. Feeling curious he walked over and crawled onto the bed. He peered over Cabal's shoulder and saw he was playing some sort of game with Mario and with Yoshi and Sonic the hedgehog. He watched as Cabal lost his game then reset it, and then lost again and again and again and again and again and again and so on and so forth until he finally won the game. It was late at night when that happened and both boys were really tired after the game was won. Cabal fell backwards and sprawled across the bed. He fell asleep like that surprising Mel, who thought it wasn't a very comfortable position to fall asleep in, but he also fell asleep in the same manner as he was too sleepy to move back to his bed, so he sprawled out beside Cabal and fell asleep, snoring softly.

A tiny figure peered in from the doorway. His eyes scanned the entire room feeling curious. He sucked on his tiny fist as he scanned the two unconscious bodies. He opened the door some and was surprised when it creaked all the way open causing Mel and Cabal to stir in their sleep. He wanted to go in, but feared waking them up and angering them. Little boys didn't fight big boys too well when they only have cunning on their side.

"Far!" a deep, elderly voice called from down the hall. "Where did you run off to no you rascal? Far!"

The boy sucked his fist loudly as he turned and ran down the hall. His silver locks of hair bouncing up and down as he ran, nearly tripping a few times. He finally fell and lay on the floor motionless, sucking his fist loudly in defeat. The elderly man appeared and sighed. The four-year-old was nothing like either of his parents. Perhaps it was a good thing his alias was 'far' because it really fit his description. He _was far_ from being anything like his parents. The old man knew this and smirked feeling slightly amused. "Far, how many times have I told you not to stay up so late?" Rodger asked helping the small boy to his feet. "What have you been up to, now? I saw you were peering in on Mel and Cabal. They're new. I'm sure you notice that there are more new students than there was yesterday. Do you like that?"

Suck, suck, suck.

"Far you need to go to bed. It's late and you know that you have class tomorrow."

Suck, suck, suck.

"Don't argue with me and don't try to worm your way out by giving me puppy eyes."

Suck, suck, suck.

"Far have you even had your bath today?"

Suck, suck, pause, suck, suck.

"Oh, well, you can shower in the morning." The elderly man sighed giving the boy a small grin. "Let's just get you to bed."

"Dreams." Far said smiling childishly.

The old man picked him up and held him tightly.

Far had escaped him more than once when his grip wasn't firm. And once he had the boy in bed he left the room locking the door. It was just another thing that had to be done or else the child would get up and run around. Why he did that Rodger had no idea. The boy hadn't spoken a single sentence since he was brought to the orphanage. He'd say words, but never had he formed a sentence with them. It made children and staff alike doubt that he was the least bit intelligent, but because of his parents' reputations he was to be given a chance. The only thing that anyone really could guess about the boy's lack of speech was that he'd inherited it from his parents who were both none too talkative.

Far sat up in bed.

Slowly sucking his fist as hard as he could, he ceased only once to admire the hickeys he'd made on his tiny hand. He then decided to move to his wrist before he started to suck again. No sense in giving his hand more hickeys when it was almost covered in them. He jumped from bed and pulled out a small white box, which contained many different toys. Pulling a few random toys out he flicked the light to the room on. He started to make a small model of the orphanage from the design plans he'd stolen from Rodger's office and smirked before going to bed as he had a feeling tomorrow would be more than just fun.

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**Was that good or what? Let me know what you think of this and I'll update as soon as I update a few other stories! ****I am getting back into my writing zone!**

**~Luffles Fairylust~**


	2. Roll Call

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything, except the OCs and maybe this AU (Alternate Universe), which exsists for the purpose of being the plot, but everything else is Obatahs work! ANd when I say everything you DN or Death Note fans should know what I mean!**

**(I think I misspelled _his _name)**

**I apologize for any grammer or spelling errors in this story.**

**First things first, sorry for not updating, like, any of me stories. I curse the person who began to spread the flu around school and town and, well, everywhere! I blame one of my friends. Is that wrong?**

**Hmm, nah!**

**Lol.**

**Oh-kayz, e****nough of that, time to get down to business (I know it's more than likely misspelled) already! ****I've updated this, cause I already updated two other of my stories and just want to be the one person on fanfiction to freakin update! I mean I've like 85 or so fav stories and none have been updated in this past week! is updates too much to ask for?**

***Disappointment***

**;_;**

***Sobs***

**Whatever! I'm over that. ****Anywayz, I hope that this chappie is pleasing to those of you who are reading this story and enjoying it. ****Thanks guy(s) for reviewing, faving, alerting, etc.**

**It means a lot to me!**

**x^D**

**So, enjoy this chappie and please make close observations, cause I plan to make this a looooooong story and want ya all to know the characters and all that other stuff for later, mostly cause I have no idea where this is really going, but still...**

**Close observations are very important!**

**;^P**

**~Luffles, Fairylust~**

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The next morning everyone woke up hearing a loud alarm that was quickly recognized as the fire alarm.

Cabal fell from bed along with Mel. Cabal was the one who screamed fire before both boys scrambled to their feet and along with everybody else who had gotten into the halls ran from the building and onto the front lawn. Of course there was no fire and as the last child joined the other children and staff who'd gathered in front of the orphanage, moments after they had stepped onto the lawn the sprinklers came on soaking everyone. All the children screamed while the adults cried out in surprise, mixed with cries of disbelief.

Rodger was the only adult who was absent. The only child who wasn't there was missed due to his small stature. The old man appeared in front of everyone holding a calm, smiling Far, who simply sucked his tiny fist while Rodger explained that it was he who had been the cause of the little joke/prank. Far was glared at, scolded, name called, and rebuked, but he only had one word to say, which shocked a majority of the adults, considering how guilty he should have felt. His only word was: "Suckers."

Rodger felt embarrassed as he was supposed to have been watching the child.

Mel and Cabal ignored everyone who began to scream and shout and argue.

Both of the boys headed for their room to change their soaked clothes. They didn't bother listening or looking at who did it, because it was very cold out and they just wanted to get back inside where it was quite warm.

"We've got classes today." Cabal said bitterly. "That's bad, because all we do is learn stuff we probably already know and can't do much." He said as he slipped a white and purple striped shirt on. He pulled on some skinny jeans and a pair of gray socks and black and white sneakers, which he knotted instead of tying in a bow. Mel blinked watching as Cabal dried off his goggles, and then let them rest on his forehead. "Where'd ya get those?" Mel asked curiously after he'd changed into some dry jeans.

"My dad." The boy replied watching as his friend continued dressing. "Why do you like wearing black so much?" he asked in mock curiosity. "Is it your favorite color?"

"Yeah. I like black, even though black isn't as nice a color as white or silver or gold, I like it, lots and lots." He suddenly frowned feeling a bit sick. "My papa liked it too." He added quietly.

"Hey, it's okay." Cabal said wrapping an arm around his friend's shoulders. "I am sure your dad had good reasons for leaving you here on your own."

Mel nodded still feeling sick to his stomach.

Once changed into dry clothes they walked about the halls for a bit, until a teacher found them. "What are you two doing out here? You should be in _my_ classroom, about now! I think…."

"We're a bit lost." Mel admitted with embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Child how old are you and your friend?"

"Six."

"Okay, you're definitely supposed to be in my classroom, which is for any boy or girl who is under the age of eleven, so follow me. No time for dawdling!"

The two boys followed and were soon in the classroom. They were assigned desks. Cabal's desk being two desks behind Mel and Mel being across from a runty looking kid who had fluffy curls of silver hair, not white or black, but silver. He wore a pale blue button-down shirt with faded jeans and no shoes or socks on. He kicked his pale feet around kicking some kids as they passed, but not seemed to notice, or really care. The teacher called roll after a couple of minutes, she held a small notebook that apparently had names listed in it. Mel wondered just how many there were, so he decided to count as the names were called.

"Daisy?"

"Here."

"Glenda."

"Here."

"Jacob."

"Present."

"Edme."

"Here."

"Fabian."

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Grendle."

"Huh? Oh, I am here!"

"Harmony."

"Oh, I'm here teacher."

"Aaron."

"Here."

"Bee?"

"Absent as far as you know!"

"That reply is all I need to you're here, sweetie."

"Fine…present…but don't call me sweetie!"

"Collie."

"…."

"Collie."

"…."

"Collie?"

"…."

"Are you present Collie?"

"Yes." A tiny, shy voice called from the back of the room. "I-I am here."

"Speak up next time, child!" The teacher scolded. "I need to know if you are here or not."

"Yes. Sorry."

The teacher was quickly calm again and she prepared to continue with the roll call. Mel felt a bit sorry for Collie. She sounded so nice and seemed so frightened of speaking when the teacher wanted her to. He wondered why. Was she like super anti-social or just a naturally timid person? Were all girls timid? No, he quickly realized that couldn't be it because the other girls didn't seem timid when they spoke. With a small smile Mel promised himself that he would make friends with her sometime or another. She sounded real benevolent and he could use a compassionate friend. He was brought to reality when the teacher-begun roll call once more.

"Jasper?"

"Present, Miss."

"Sage?"

There was no reply. The girl who was known as Collie raised her hand. "Yes?" the teacher asked feeling exasperated. "Um…Sage said he didn't feel too good…he promised to be here…tomorrow." She said quietly. The teacher gave her an understanding nod.

"Rory?"

"Here."

"Kai?"

"Here."

"Nel?"

"In attendance."

The blue-eyed blonde didn't fail to notice that the girl's alias rhymed with his and he couldn't help but to smirk in amusement. Mel thought that it was sort of funny.

He looked over to the girl and thought she looked real pretty. Nel seemed to be just a year younger than him. She had on a pale blue skirt and sweater set with nice black leather shoes and neat, clean white socks. She had pale white skin and short black locks of hair that contracted greatly with her skin. Her eyes were large and a misty gray color that Mel really liked. His heart suddenly felt funny and so did his head. He blushed slightly when Nel looked up and saw him looking at her. She didn't change her blank expression, but was quick to avert her gaze from him. She didn't seem shy, just uncomfortable with being stared at, so Mel stopped not able to help the fact his face was turning kinda pink.

He felt kinda unintelligent and self-conscious around that point, so he turned away with a grin. Mel was brought back to earth when his name was called. "Mel?" she seemed to study the name then looked to Mel and remembered a boy who she remembered from when she went to Whammy's House Orphanage as a little, tiny girl. He looked almost exactly like his father did as a child. Short blonde hair, cold azure eyes, wore black, but his skin tone, was much, much lighter, and also wasn't as tan as his father's.

His hair wasn't the same type of blonde, either, even though the teacher knew that this boy wasn't, probably, anything like his father she could not hold in a groan as she remembered Mello was the boy who'd pulled her pigtails during class, stole her chocolate, teased her, embarrassed her, and shoved her to the ground once when he was angry about something. Then again wasn't he always like that to everyone on one of his bad days? "Oh, God, no." she groaned then looked to Mel sharply, disapprovingly hoping he'd understand that she wanted absolute obedience and no funny business.

"Mel?" she said more sharply. She hoped that really got her point across.

"Um…here…." he said looking around in confusion. The other children seemed confused as well. Who had gotten him that strange look? Mel didn't know, but knew he didn't do anything to deserve it. He hadn't done anything wrong and felt that it wasn't right to get a strange look when he did nothing to earn it. When he decided that nobody was at fault he continued listening to the roll call.

"Viper?"

"Present and accounted for."

"Dex?"

"Here."

"Percy?"

"I am here!"

"Lolli."

"No, I'm in Broadway." A boy who had black hair and dark eyes said sarcastically as he stared blankly into space. "Where do you think I am?"

The teacher gave him a look that he seemed to have caught.

"Yeah here." He sighed. "Whatever."

She rolled her eyes moving on.

"Far?"

No reply.


	3. Origami

"Far?"

No reply.

"Far?"

No reply.

"Far?"

No reply.

"Far?"

No reply.

"Far?"

No reply.

"Far?"

"Swan!"

Students laughed and the teacher sighed indignantly, before she gave him a sharp, disproving look as she did Mel.

Mel looked at the kid next to him who had several origami swans sitting on his desk. He was Far and the blonde felt kind of happy knowing he sat next to a friendly kid. The blonde didn't know why the teacher gave him and Far funny looks, but dismissed it and decided to be friendly. He turned to Far and smiled weakly. The younger boy didn't seem to notice as he continued with his origami. "Hippo!" he said as he finished making two origami hippos. He started work on another. Mel watched astonished when he produced a small origami hippo. "Family." Far giggled as he sat the trio of origami hippos in a small marching line, the mama behind the papa and the baby in between.

"Hi." Mel said watching as Far stopped his origami, sucked his tiny fist and stared at him with his large dark eyes that seemed curious as to what Mel would want from him. The blonde decided to start with names even if he'd already knew the kid's name…or alias as the case was. "My name is Mel, what's yours?" The boy tilted his head. Suck, suck, suck. "Um, how long have you been here?" He asked once Far didn't respond.

Suck, suck, suck, pause, suck, suck.

The silver haired boy stood up when the teacher's back was turned. She seemed to have been conversing with somebody who was outside the class and had moments before knocked needing to speak with her. Mel watched as Far moved silently to her desk and pulled open a drawer he didn't see what else he did, but watched silently as he took his seat without anyone noticing that he was just standing and at the teacher's desk.

Suck, suck, suck.

_How can he suck his fist like that and not be bothered by those bruises?_ Mel wondered with distaste as the classroom door closed loudly. _Those bruises look so gross._

"Okay, class, now that I know we're all here, I'd like to say-" The teacher spoke softly taking her seat, then cutting herself off to screech in agony. Everyone seemed to jump. Except for Far who smirked evilly. Mel shuddered seeing this cold, cruel smirk play on the younger boy's lips. _So much for my friendly kid theory,_ He thought watching the teacher in terror as she jumped to her feet angrily. The teacher then looked furious.

"Who did this?" she shouted holding up a rusty thumb tack.

Nobody spoke.

All seemed silent.

There was only the sound of Far sucking his fist.

She turned her wrath upon the boy in a second, give or take. "It was you wasn't it? Oh, of course it was you're always doing these awful things! You little devil! You vile imp! Oh! You'll get a good thrashing for this! Rest assured you'll be disciplined good and proper!"

Suck, suck, suck.

She screamed again and stomped from the room.

Mel looked at Far who jumped from his seat. Suddenly all eyes were on him. He walked over to the chalkboard and grabbed a jar of candy, which sat on the teacher's desk and smashed it. All the girls seemed to scream and the boys seemed to wince. Far grabbed a piece of glass and sat it on the desk. Digging in the drawers of the desk again he pulled out some cotton and stuffed it in his ears. He then grabbed the shard of glass and pressed it against the chalkboard. He looked to his peers who stared at him bewildered. He drug the shard down the chalkboard and caused it to make a dreadful screeching sound.

Mel covered his ears with his hands as it hurt to listen to such an awful noise. Once he'd finished carving his name, forcefully into the board he tossed the glass aside, removed the cotton from his ears and grabbed some chalk. He drew a picture of what appeared to be a grotesque monster eating their teacher. Mel's mouth fell open in shock at the audacity. He looked back at his friend who was also gawking. The teacher appeared, as if on cue, and screamed upon seeing the horrible drawing and ruined chalkboard, which had Far's alias carved into it. Rodger was with her. The old man didn't appear so surprised. He looked at Far who sucked on his chalk-covered fist.

Tears were welling up in the teacher's eyes as she erased the horrid picture frantically. "Class dismissed." Rodger said. The kids left the room silently too shocked to make a sound until they were in the hallway. Curious as to what was going to happen, both Mel and Cabal listened in to what was said after the classroom door closed, but was ajar just enough so they could see in without being noticed by either of the adults and hopefully Far, who Mel feared would tattle on them. "I don't know why he hates me so much!" the teacher screeched. The old man looked to the small boy who continued to suck his fist.

"Far what were you thinking when you did all this?" Rodger asked rather calmly, yet appeared annoyed.

"Monsters." The boy said before he continued to suck his fist, but sucked at a much slower rate. He stopped once more. "Monsters." He repeated smiling.

He truly seemed pleased with himself. The teacher was furious with the boy who didn't seem the least bit guilty or worried about getting thrashed as the teacher had earlier said he would. He actually appeared…happy, which was odd for him, as he always seemed to wear a fake smile or pretend to be happy. But he actually seemed to be _really_ happy.

"You're the monster!" she snapped at him before turning to the old man with a pleading look. "Rodger, I demand you give this…this…this abomination to another orphanage! He's no good! He can't speak! He's trouble! He's probably stupid! No wonder his parents abandoned him here! Oh, please just get rid of the little brute! It'll do us all a bunch of good it would!"

"Now, Annabel, you know why we can't do that." He said looking to Far with a soft smile. "No matter how much we would like to see a terrible child leave. Besides, we owe it to his parents, don't you think?" Mel could tell by Rodger's tone of voice that he wouldn't have really wanted to get rid of Far, no matter how bad the kid was.

"No!" she exclaimed angrily. "We don't owe them anything! Just get rid of this wicked fiend! Now! He's a bad influence and will cause the others to follow after him! Get rid of him! Now while we still have a chance!"

"Annabel, as I've said before we can't get rid of Far, at least not yet."

"Why not?" the teacher whined.

"Because," Rodger said quietly, "he needs a chance to prove himself, yes, he's a tad bit rambunctious, but he's only a child, you know. Whammy once told me that you must be patient with them, or else they'll never change or grow into proper adults. It took a lot of time after his death for me to realize that the old chap was right. And I was very reluctant to realize the chap was indeed right."

"Humph, well, Whammy had never met this evil little creature."

Far looked to Rodger innocently. Mel thought that it was hard to believe it was that kid who moments ago drew an appalling picture and ruined the chalk boar and broke the glass jar that had candy in it and…and…. It was just easier to believe it'd been a nightmare than to believe it had been Far. He looked so sweet, so innocent. Mel tossed those thoughts aside as Rodger spoke once more.

"True, but he did meet Mello." The old man said too softly for the two eavesdroppers to hear. Annabel the teacher barely heard him, but nodded.

"Yeah, he did meet that kid, speaking of which, how did he turn out?"

"I'd say he turned out to be a fine adult," the old man sighed, "not one I'd like to associate with, but he's not that bad of a fellow."

Silence.

"Goose!" Far exclaimed showing off his origami goose, which he'd been making while the two adults spoke. Rodger smiled softly. "Yes, that's a nice goose, Far."

"Hippo!" he giggled as he showed off his trio of hippos. The old man gave him a sympathetic glance then turned back to Annabel who growled angrily. Far smiled sweetly at her but she turned away too furious to allow herself to melt for Far's cute act.

It was evident to her that this boy was a lost cause and she wouldn't allow herself to think differently. Not again, not ever again, would she melt for some monster's act.

Once again there was silence.

"I can't do anything with him!" the teacher suddenly exclaimed. "He doesn't cooperate. He refuses to speak with any of the other children or me for that matter! All he seems to do is play and…and…this!" she pointed at the chalkboard to emphasis her point on her 'this' statement. Rodger nodded understandingly. "He'll behave tomorrow, Annabel, I promise you, because if he doesn't he knows I'll tell L."

Far seemed to cringe.

Both adults smiled pleased and dismissed the boy who gathered all his origami and headed for the door, sulkily. Mel and Cabal jumped away from the door and raced down the hall hoping they weren't spotted. They made it to their room, meanwhile Far headed for the Common Room feeling really livid. How dare those two boys watch, as he was humiliated! How could the old man know what would strike his nerve?

L had, before, given him a lecture and he could safely say he hated it. His mentor was cruel, but kind. And his lectures were _never_ kind. Always cold, bitter, angry and let one knows when L wants complete obedience. He attacked ones faults and weaknesses slowly tearing down one's self esteem and self-worth, then builds it back up in the end with a sneer and sigh. Far needed to let off some steam and the Common Room was totally empty, save for the toys, which were strewn everywhere, some in piles even.

_Time to play._ He thought as he entered.


	4. Far Talks, Jedi Fight, Enemies!

**Warning: Long chappie, fighting, disagreements, and just strange moments in the lives of children.**

**~Fairylust~**

* * *

Mel and Cabal sat in their room laughing. They felt such a rush of adrenaline from that. And were glad they hadn't been caught, but now they were bored. Mel stood as Cabal started to play a game. "Where you going?" he asked. Mel stopped outside their door and shrugged. "I think I'll go play someplace, dunno where, but someplace is better than noplace, you know." Mel said quietly.

Cabal smiled a small, cheerful smile. "You could play in the Common Room then. That's where lots of toys and games are kept for kids to play with."

Mel smiled and nodded. "Thanks, where is it?"

After giving him the directions Cabal continued to play his video game.

Mel made it to the Common Room several minutes after he started running. Nobody was in the room, which had toys strewn almost everywhere. He suddenly felt lonely. He wanted someone to play with. It just wasn't fun to play by oneself and he suddenly missed his father, who had always played with him. Sighing and feeling his broken heart ache some more than it previously had Mel fell to his knees and started to fiddle with a toy car. He jumped when he heard a loud clicking sound. Looking around fearfully the boy quickly spotted Far, who was playing with what appeared to be dice and dominos.

"Hey," Mel called, "hey, Far! Wanna play with me?"

The small boy turned and looked at him. He stood up and to Mel's surprise kicked his own dice tower down and forced his dominos to fall over. He grinned wickedly at Mel who ran over to the small boy as he opened a toy box, which was across the room. He turned to Mel who stood behind him, watching what he would grab. Far held a wooden block in his tiny hands. It had the letter M on it. He raised it above his head and with an insane glint in his eye he threw it as hard as he could to the floor causing the block to crack slightly. Mel looked to him in shock. What was with this kid?

He was so strange.

"Why'd you do that?" Mel demanded. "What was the point to do that?"

"Because it incensed me that you and your little buddy would have the audacity to watch as I was humiliated by that aged relic and I needed to release some of said frustrations on something. It was either the block or your face…I wonder if I should have chosen your face? Oh, well, too late now. Besides, I'd have gotten into lots more trouble than I'm already in. Things around here have never been all too fair or fun. I'm sort of elated that you're here, now if I should be perfectly honest."

Mel gawped at the boy who turned around and dug in the toy box some more.

"You can talk?"

"Yes," Far hissed indignantly. "I'm not a retard. My speech varies but why should I waste words on worthless idiots and people who don't give a jokey if I live or die?" He shook his head as if Mel had told him a secret he couldn't believe. "No, I'll speak with whom I like and with those I believe are my equal, which would be you, my friend."

"Huh? We're friends?"

"Your IQ seems to be close enough to mine and the fact that you are older only adds to your life experience. Tell me, what have you learned thus far?"

"I dunno." The blonde boy shrugged. "I don't understand what you mean. It's kinda confusing, seeing as you switch personalities like every two seconds."

"I'm surrounded by idiots, aren't I?" the smaller boy murmured annoyed. "Never mind, just tell me why you're here or just run off and let me play by myself."

"You can't play by yourself." Mel said matter-of-factly smiling. "And what do you mean when you say you only speak to people you consider worthy?"

Far held a teddy bear against his chest as he glared at Mel. "I despise people who think I'm a freak for being as intelligent as I am. And I've dealt with enough people to know that the people around here think I'm weak and stupid and I don't like that, Mel. I don't like that not one bit." He held the teddy bear up to his face and stared at it lovingly, then begun to gently pet its head. "So, teddy, here, and I have our little talks and he's a very good listener. You should speak to him sometime. Anyway, the point is I only speak with people I like or think are as smart as me. Understand?"

Mel nodded but glared at the boy and his teddy bear. "You sound crazy, you know that, right?"

"Mel," he sighed sadly petting the bear more gently. "Mel, Mel, Mel, Mel, Mel." He spoke softly and sounded almost sad. "We're all a little insane on the inside, but some of us can show it off better than others. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"No!" Mel spat. "You're crazy and weird and that teddy bear can't talk!"

Far tossed the bear aside and glared at Mel angrily. "Shut up!" he snapped. "Teddy can talk and what the bloody freak do you know about being crazy? About being weird or alone or anything else? Shut your stupid maw or I swear, Mel, I'll kill your best friend!"

Mel let out a howl of rage as he leapt at the smaller boy. They rolled on the floor in a fighting heap. Far hit and kicked at Mel who clawed and bit and tried to hit the boy as much as possible. Far managed to get Mel's hand in his mouth. He bit down as hard as he could. Mel cried out in agony as blood seeped from the bite wound.

"You'll pay for that!" he shouted enraged. "I won't let you _not_ get away with it!"

Far kicked Mel in his stomach causing the elder boy to fall backwards. He landed on his tush and cried out as he felt something sharp prick into his tush. He whimpered as he stood and saw he'd landed on some plastic toy animals. He turned to Far who was back at the toy box and had pulled out a toy light saber. He pushed a button, which made the light saber light up red. "Now I will defeat you, Mel." He said his voice was filled with menace. Mel scrambled to his feet and spotted a toy light saber close by him.

He grabbed it and pushed the button to make it light up. It lit up blue matching the color of Mel's eyes. Far let out a loud cry as he made the first move.

The two toys clashed.

Red met blue and for a second onyx eyes met azure and all was silent. Then Mel pulled away from Far and tried to hit his legs, but the boy was fast and blocked the attack. Far pushed back, but Mel stood firm. They both suddenly jumped back a step.

"Your good." Far said with a devilish smirk. "You're a true Jedi, Mel."

"Yeah." The blonde said quietly licking his dry lips. "And you're an experienced Sith Lord, Far." He stated feeling the younger boy's aura match the color of his 'weapon'.

"And as any of the Sith would…" Far trailed off as if in thought. But surprised Mel when his smirk vanished and a bloodlust appeared making him smile like a crazed killer. "I'll kill you!" Far exclaimed rushing towards the blonde. Their toy light sabers clashed again and again, but being much more experienced Far was able to knock Mel's light saber from his hands. He spun around once, before his foot hit Mel directly in the stomach and sent him tumbling backwards, he fell to the ground with a barely audible thump.

Mel groaned looking up to see the small boy had discarded his 'weapon' and was smirking triumphantly down at him. Mel tried to sit up, but a kick to his chest winded him and forced him to lay flat on the ground. "You know what fighting style that is, Mel?" Far asked as he rested a foot on Mel's stomach letting some of his weight down on the elder boy. It was anything but comfortable.

Mel shook his head slowly to let the younger boy know his answer to his question, hoping that he'd be pleased and let him get up. Far however had no such ideas. He didn't leave a fight unfinished and if he did it was because he was bored and he was not at all bored at the moment. If anything he was bursting at the seams with zeal.

"It's called capoiera."

Mel nodded but didn't speak.

"You know something?"

Mel shook his head.

"I want to play…on a…trampoline!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

Before Mel could process what he meant the smaller boy, who used his stomach as a trampoline, was jumping on him and giggling like he'd just heard a wonderful joke.

Mel cried out in pain and tried to roll out from under the smaller boy who was peeved by the action and body slammed him. He groaned and cried out again. Far wasn't at all finished with him and despite the fact the younger boy felt like he weighed almost nothing that body slam hurt! Straddling the elder boy's waist he stabbed at the blonde using a fake, toy knife that oozed fake blood, but it was enough to make Mel scream in terror. The cries weren't unnoticed as Rodger and the teacher Annabel was soon drawn by them. Far heard their footsteps and thought of what he should do, but Mel overpowered him before he had a chance to think and pinned the small boy beneath him.

Accidentally forcing the small boy to land on his side. When Mel leapt on top of him he sprang Far's arm and things didn't look at all good when Rodger and Annabel arrived. Mel tried to throttle Far but was pulled off by Annabel, whilst Far scrambled to his feet and whimpered and hugged the old man's leg making sure to play up his innocent victim façade as much as he possibly could. "Mel what was going on?" the old man demanded.

"He's crazy! He's evil or something! I-I mean he was trying to kill me!"

Rodger looked down at Far who whimpered cutely holding his arm. "Hurts."

"He tried to kill you?" the old man questioned doubtfully. "He, a four year old, attempted killing you, a six year old, and it just so happened that you had him pinned down and was choking the life out of him because he tried to kill _you_?"

Mel tilted his head in confusion. "I don't follow all of that, but yeah. He was jumping on me and stabbing me and Jedi fighting me and…and…and…."

"Hurts!" Far whined letting tears roll down his cheeks.

"You're such a faker!" Mel exclaimed glaring at the small boy. Rodger bent down to look at the boy's arm. "No, actually, Mel, it appears as though you've truly hurt his arm. I'm guessing it's sprang, but nothing too serious. He'll be fine."

"B-but-"

"Mel I expect you to look after Far, not kill him."

"But he'll kill _me_! He said he'd kill Cabal and he tried to kill _me_ and he'll kill _you_ too if you weren't on his side!"

"I think we should listen to Mel." Annabel chimed in. "After all Far has been trouble since the first day he arrived here who's to say the boy isn't demon possessed or evil or what ever else you can imagine? The boy isn't necessarily a victim of abuse or-"

"No, he isn't but-" the younger boy quickly cut the old man off. "Hurt!" Far whined. Tears slipped down his face. Mel felt disgusted. How could anyone fall for his cute act? Well, he was a toddler, or at least he looked like one. He had the whole cute thing going pretty well for him and he seemed really defenseless. So, it was easy to believe he was helpless and adorable. Yet Mel still felt appalled by the façade. The adults left talking about something that neither of the children bothered listening to, because they were too busy glaring at each other.

Once the adults were gone Far spoke glaring at Mel with menace. "You've managed to hurt me, well done, Melly. But I wouldn't be too thrilled if I were you. It seems as though we'll be enemies, as you do not wish to be kind to me. You're no different than anyone else. But that was expected. So I am 22.5% certain we'll clash again before the day is over. You'd better watch your back, because when I hit, I hit hard."

"Yeah, well, you'd better watch your back, cause I'll pound the life out of you!" Mel retorted. "You'll be so beaten that you'll never think of me again!"

"Oh, so you'll murder me in cold blood?"

"Murder?"

"It's when you kill somebody and they cease to live or breathe or think." Far explained irritably. "Do you understand that much, moron?"

"Jerk!"

"Blonde heathen!"

"Prissy, spoiled brat!"

"Abandoned loser!"

Mel didn't reply, but grabbed a nearby wooden building block and hit Far with it. Likewise Far grabbed a building block and started hitting Mel with it. Within seconds they were rolling on the floor, biting, kicking, hitting and name-calling.

Rodger and Annabel eventually pulled them apart after hearing the commotion. The teacher lead Mel off to his room and Rodger carried Far to his and informed him that he had a new roommate waiting for him. The small boy didn't respond, but tensed up. He didn't like people for the simple reason that people didn't like him. Nobody he knew liked him, save for his toys but that was about it. If anyone liked him it was because he had something they wanted. As he was sat down in his room and the door closed he heard someone giggling like a lunatic.

He turned around and saw a boy who looked at least five years older than him and had short, messy black hair and large dark colored eyes, which seemed to have been filled to the brim with insanity. His skin was a pasty color of white and he wore a yellow shirt with black stripes and dark colored jeans that were ripped at the knees. He wore yellow (fingerless) gloves that were striped black and he only wore white socks on his feet. Far recognized him as a boy from his class, who had been given the alias, Bee. It was a strange alias but it seemed to fit him well enough.

"Hey!" he shouted sounding really excited. "You're that weird kid right?"

"Strange." Far said as he crawled onto his bed and crawled beneath the covers to pout. Bee pulled the covers back and Far was forced to look at the elder boy who kept smirking that crazed, wily smirk at him. "Yeah, well, I'm that way too, so we should get along reeeeeeal fine." He said smirking deviously. "In fact, we should get along so well that you could stop acting like a retarded toddler and talk with me some. I know ya can talk. I heard you and that kid Mel and your little chat and was very impressed with your vocabulary. And I was even more so impressed with your fighting abilities."

Far gaped.

"It was sooooooooo funny! I mean, I was like, oh the squirt is dead, and then I was like no the blonde's dead and then I was like banging my head against the floor trying not to laugh! You guys were soooooooooo funny! I mean you're like fire and water, so, so different. The next few days are gonna really suck for you I will bet. I also-"

"How'd you see and hear all of that?" Far exclaimed giving up on being silent and shocked. "You were nowhere to be seen! It was just I and Mel and the toys."

"Yup." Bee said smirking menacingly. "Those stupid adults should've called me 'Mask' because I'm so good at hiding and disguising myself. While you guys had your little spat I was hiding beneath a pile of stuffed toys. You probably didn't notice, which just made my hiding place so much better. I managed to sneak away when the adults forced you apart for a second time. I'm also really fast, so I ran all the way here and fell over laughing my guts out. That's pretty muchly how I got to be here in this situation."

Far was impressed and, of course, didn't fail to hide it. He toyed with a curl of his silver hair as a smile crept onto his face. "Bee why don't we talk more often?"

"Cause I barely know you and you hate people."

"Just boring people!"

"And you're a liar."

"So you're probably a bigger liar than I am!" Far retorted maliciously. Bee chuckled, but quickly put on a fake mask of annoyance. "Yeah, well, don't spread that around I've gotta sabotage some kids who'll try to rip me off and jack my homework." He added with a sneer, "Kids always steal my homework."

"Oh? Do you get them back for it?"

"Believe me I _do_." He added darkly with a shrug. "It's always too easy when you're surrounded by people dumber than you."

Far smirked knowing he could count Bee as a useful alley.


	5. Conversations

The next day Mel noticed that Far and Bee were hanging out together and for some odd reason he felt a strange unpleasant anger sweep over him. He didn't know why but he didn't like the elder boy, not one bit. And he didn't like it that Far was hanging out with him so much. It just bugged him. Cabal said that he was feeling jealous, but Mel denied it. Simply because Far had said that they were enemies. And Mel would not admit to feeling jealous because his enemy was hanging out with a weirdo like Bee. For all he cared Far could hang out with…with…a teenager! After lunch was over Mel was shocked when Cabal walked over to the two boys and spoke with them. That action really made the boy feel jealous! He thought Cabal was _his_ friend! So why did he talk to _them_?

He asked and the redhead simply shrugged saying that he was friends with several people. And while he didn't like Bee, he _did _like Far. He said that the kid was cute and rather interesting. Mel felt his jealousy boil over and his anger forced him to storm over to Far and Bee and slug the silver-haired boy in the face. Of course it soon turned into a huge fight with kids screaming and crying and Bee and Cabal fighting each other, while Far and Mel struggled with each other and rolled on the floor in a fighting rage.

The four were soon pulled apart and taken to the headmaster's office….

A.k.a Rodger.

Once he was finished with them he requested that Far stay and the others leave. Curious Mel did the only thing he knew to do when curious about something that he was excluded from hearing in a conversation. He eavesdropped on their conversation, which wasn't really much of a conversation, since it was Rodger who did most of the talking.

Rodger couldn't believe that Far let himself get into so much trouble. He felt sympathy for the boy, but also felt anger and annoyance towards him.

"Far I know you don't talk much, but I know you're upset because of what happened between your parents and you. And I know that you must be filled by many mixed emotions and are hiding them, but you must stop acting so impish. It isn't going to help anything or bring them back. And it won't help your social skills improve, either."

"Bee."

"Yes, I know he's your friend, but he doesn't count for much, since he's just as socially award as you are." The old man paused as if to think of what else to say. He finally looked to the boy who stared at the floor with half lidded eyes and kept silent. "Far, most of the staff here and a few of the children request that I call a priest and have an exorcism performed. They believe that you may be demon possessed. I'm afraid that it is because your behavior is worse than any other child's whose been here."

"Bad?"

"Yes." Rodger said sounding really, really serious and maybe a little disappointed. "That is very bad, Far. You are worse than the two previous troublemakers who were here as children. I never thought anyone could match them, but Far, you've seemed to have outdone them without even trying. I am very concerned and so is L. He believes that you are letting things from your past, things you shouldn't even remember, eat away at you and I am beginning to think he is right. It's obvious you have a bitter resentment for people, adults in general, but I never thought you'd hate people so much that you'd resort to physical violence."

"Hate." Far muttered bitterly.

The old man nodded, but still sounded very serious. "You'll be transferred to a new orphanage tomorrow if you get into anymore trouble for the rest of the day. Is that understood? And if you get into any trouble tomorrow then you'll be severely punished. When I say that I mean you'll be locked in a closet for twenty-eight hours. I'm sorry, but all the staff here thinks we shouldn't be soft on you anymore. Ever since you arrived here you've only caused trouble. Do you remember how old you were then?"

"Door." The boy said looking to the door wanting to escape this conversation, the memories, the horrible memories, and he wanted to run to his room and hide under the covers on his bed like the small child, which he was.

"Yes. Far, you may be excused now, but you will be required to speak with L once you get to your room. Bee will be moved to another room, so you shall not have a roommate."

Far nodded and ran for the door as fast as he could. Tears brimmed his large eyes, but he refused to let them fall. _Stupid Mel._ He thought angrily. _I hate that stupid idiot!_ He made it to his room and saw a laptop was sitting on his bed he crawled up onto the bed and stared at the camera, which stared straight at him and lowered his mouth to the microphone. "Hello, L?" he spoke nervously.

"Hello, Far," L replied in his usual scrambled voice. "Do not worry this is not a lecture. I was, however, informed that you've been misbehaving agin. That is troublesome. Is there something wrong?"

"No."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes."

"I've heard you made friends with a boy, Bee."

"Yes."

"Tell me what rank is he most likely to get?"

"Five. Most likely."

"Right. And tell me what rank you want to achieve?"

"One."

"Yes. Tell me how the two of you even met? I know you wouldn't speak with someone as low a rank as that without good reason. And I know that simply because I know _you_."

Far shrugged. "We were roommates."

"Ah, so then my orders were ignored." L seemed to muse to himself for a short while before he continued. "Listen, if you feel like getting revenge then go ahead."

This caught the boy's attention. What was he getting at? Why would he permit Far to do something that he had gotten in trouble for so many times? There was only one way to find out and that was for him to take the bait.

"Really?"

"Yes. You'll only be expelled and transferred, and then forgotten." The words were icy, but firm. "Don't think I would let that happen? Try it and I guess we'll see won't we? I am not one for foolishness and you should know not to make me waste my time handling matters such as this when there are other important things I can be attending to."

"Oh." Far sighed and suddenly let an expressionless look come over his face. "I will be a good little boy. I promise."

"Good. If you can behave for the next twenty-four hours you'll be rewarded."

"Mints?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"This conversation is over."

And within seconds the screen to the laptop went black meaning the conversation was truly over between them, at least, it was for now.

There was always a next time.


	6. Befriending A Monster

Far sighed crawling up on his bed letting the words of the conversation sink in and letting his boredom grow a bit as well. After a while of over thinking all the horrible, scary things that could occur if he were sent elsewhere he began to feel frightened and his body was racked by uncontrolled sobs, which were just muffled when he tried to suck on his fist. He buried his face in his pillow not even noticing when the door to his room creaked open. He heard it when it closed, though. Sitting up Far saw Mel, both were totally surprised to see the other.

"Far are you okay?" Mel asked feeling a bit guilty. Far's bangs shadowed his face, but tears still poured from his eyes, which were shut tightly. He sucked at his fist even faster feeling humiliated to be found this way and by Mel, who was supposed to be his enemy!

Suck, suck, suck, suck, suck.

"Oh, Far I'm so, so, so, so, very sorry!" he exclaimed suddenly bursting into tears. "I am sorry for being jealous and sorry I hit you in the face! That probably hurt real badly, so you had a right to attack me, but it's my entire fault that we got into that fight! I am so sorry! And I'm sorry I got you into a huge amount of trouble! I am so, so very sorry! I didn't want you to hang around Bee, because I don't like him, Far. I don't know why, but he scares me and I thought he'd hurt you, so I really didn't want him to hurt you and I didn't like it when Cabal talked with you or said he liked you! I hated it that you threatened my best friend, but I didn't want you to be sent away to some other orphanage even though you're a regal jerk-face! I don't want you to die!"

"What are you talking about?" the smaller boy asked clearly shocked and confused by Mel's tearful apology/confession.

"I heard some older kids!" he said wiping at the tears trying to make them all disappear, but they just kept coming. "They said that you'd die if you were sent someplace else."

"Huh."

"Please forgive me!" Mel cried wrapping his arms around the younger boy in a hug. "I am sorry. I will say it a million more times if you'll just forgive me for being such a jerk, because I've already forgave you for being a bigger jerk, so you just _have_ to forgive me!"

"It's okay Mel." He said surprising himself. Normally he'd have held a grudge. Normally he'd have coldly dismissed the one apologizing. Normally he'd have _never _thought to forgive in a billion decades, but something about Mel and his tearful apology/confession made something in the tiny boy feel remorse for his actions. He looked to the blonde boy with big, dark over-flowing eyes. He _was _scared and felt that he needed someone to trust, someone to talk to, because he honestly had a lot on his mind at the moment.

"I forgive you, but I'm really scared and…and…I…just need someone to talk to."

"Okay. I'll listen and I will not ever tell anyone of what you say." Mel promised giving the tiny boy a smile. He extended his pinkie finger. Far hooked his with Mel's and the promise was sealed, airtight. Nodding Far rubbed his eyes. They were feeling sore as tears continued to overflow.

Mel sniffled some, before he watched Far jump from the bed and run to a toy chest. The small boy pulled his teddy bear out and then crawled back onto the bed. He sucked his fist in distress, clutching the bear tightly in one arm. Mel felt a bit better having apologized and been forgiven, but seeing Far in such a state made him feel just as scared as Far did mostly because he knew that whatever was bothering him had to have been real bad. He just seemed like such a tough kid and when tough kids cry he knew something had to be horribly wrong.

"When I was one my parents left me here." Far said. "I don't remember them. I don't remember who they were. I just remember that my mother was Korean and my father was British with some mixed blood. We lived in a beautiful house. It was near the ocean. I loved it there. I remember that we had a cat. It was white with a black tail. My mother called it Slash. I liked to play with Slash, but the cat disappeared someday after going to the vet. My mother said it'd been in an accident. I think she meant a car or something hit it. Anyway, I know for a fact that she used to take me to collect seashells. It was nice."

He seemed finished, but Mel was curious. He had to know more!

"So what happened?" he asked.

"They started to argue a lot. I heard them. I think it was my entire fault, because the arguments were always about me. I a-acted badly l-like now, I guess, because that's whom I am and I don't ever want to change for anyone except myself. Is that s-so bad?"

Mel gave the question a brief thought, and then shook his head.

"My parents left me here after a while. I begged my daddy, yes I call him that so sue me I _am_ a four year old, to not leave me, but he didn't care. I don't even think my mommy cared all too much, seeing as she didn't bother coming here to drop me off. Daddy dumped me here and left without even saying goodbye. S-so I think he hated m-me for just be-being me. And I ha-hate him for that, because he ha-hated me."

Mel gave the small boy a sympathetic look regretting that he was ever mean to him. He was obviously in a lot of emotional pain. "I hate it here!" Far sobbed. "N-nobody likes me here. Nobody! Everyone ha-hates me and wants me to be miserable! I-I just…."

Far couldn't finish as his sobs became too uncontrolled and he was full out wailing and hiccupping. Mel didn't know what to do. He felt bad for Far, but not bad enough to be his friend, mostly because they were enemies, but at that moment he would have done anything to make the small boy happy, so he blurted out the first things that came to his mind despite the fact he really didn't want them to be said aloud. He said things he wanted to stay bottled up inside of him forever and ever, but his mind had other ideas.

"I like you!" he blurted. "You're an awesome faker and if you say so then your teddy bear _can_ talk and Jedi fights can occur here every day, if you want, and I'm sorry I was so angry at you! You started it, but I should have tried to finish it when we first got to know each other a bit better in The Common Room, because I'm older and you're just a stupid basket baby! I don't hate you, but I _can't_ say I _like_ you lots and lots, but we could spend time together and get to know each other better. Maybe we'll become friends. Maybe that'll help us be _best_ friends! I think you're smart and…and…and…you _could_ be nice if you tried. I'll be your friend, Far. Honestly! For really reals."

"W-why?" Far hiccupped burying his face into the back of his teddy bear, which seemed to be soft and fuzzy against his pink, tearstained face. "Wha-what's in it for y-you?"

"Nothing." Mel replied with a smile. "I j-just want to make you not be mean. I want you to feel happy, because no one deserves to feel so bad about being where they are. Or for being who they are. You should be happy to be you."

Sniffling the smaller boy seemed to calm down some, but he was sucking on his fist really badly. Mel could see that it was covered in saliva and tears and imprints of bite marks. He shuddered wondering how much more it'd take before bruising up real, real badly. Shaking that thought away Mel grabbed Far's wrist and pulled the fist from the boy's mouth. "That's another thing we're going to work on." He said solemnly. "You can't suck on your fist a lot or else it'd get bruised up and gross and your teeth will get messed up." He explained looking at a small trail of blood that had come from a bite mark. Far didn't seem to notice it as he watched Mel give the hand a disproving glare.

"You could suck on something else if that is what helps." He said letting the hand go. "Do you like candy?" he asked making the younger boy give him a puzzled look. "If you like a certain type of candy maybe you can suck on that instead of your fist. Maybe, just maybe, that would help with your fist sucking problem."

"I like mints."

"Mints? I like chocolate. It's better."

"It's gross."

"_You're_ gross!"

Far suddenly hit Mel with his bear knocking him off the bed. "Mints are better." Far said childishly watching as the blonde pulled himself up. Suddenly Mel was on the bed again attacking the younger boy with a pillow. Accidentally he knocked the pillow against the smaller boy's head too hard sending him off the bed and to the hardwood floor. Glaring up at the elder boy the smaller suddenly jumped to his feet and stomped out of the room. _Not a good way to start a friendship. _Mel thought as Far slammed the bedroom door shut.

Running after the little boy Mel hoped that he hadn't made a huge mistake by befriending the younger boy, who was also viewed as a monster. "Far I'm so sorry about that!" he exclaimed once he caught up with Far who pouted. He actually seemed cute when he did that. "It was an accident! Honest!"

"You hurt me."

"It was an accident!"

"It still hurt."

"You're doing it again!"

Far gave him a puzzled look.

"You're holding a grudge for no reason whatsoever! I said I was sorry!"

"Okay." He said giving Mel a shrug. "Forgive you."

He then padded off leaving the elder boy confused. He had been forgiven? Twice? By Far? And they were now friends, maybe, if lucky, they were no longer enemies? What was going on? He was just so confused! Far was so confusing! One minute he was hateful to Mel and the next he was forgiving, how did that make any sense at all! Inhaling deeply Mel decided that he should just go to The Common Room and play some.

Perhaps, if lucky, he would feel a bit better then.


	7. Helping?

As he entered The Common Room, however, his stomach churned against his will.

Cabal was on the floor playing a video game, but his nose had dry blood all around it and below him on the floor there as a small puddle of blood. Mel rushed to his side as quickly as he could. "You're nose! What happened?" he exclaimed fearfully. Cabal shrugged. Mel's face became red with anger. How could his friend be so careless about his nose bleeding? Didn't it hurt or something? When the game ended a couple minutes later Cabal sat up and sighed grabbing Mel's attention instantly. "It happens sometimes." He said touching his nose lightly. "Dunno why, though. It just happens."

"Have you told anybody?"

"Nope."

"B-but something could be wrong with you!"

"Really think so?"

"Yes! We've got to tell somebody!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because I-" he cut himself off as he felt fresh blood trickle down his face. "I don't want to find out what is making me bleed."

"Why not?"

"Cause it might be something bad."

"But you could get better! They'll give you medicine."

"I don't know." He said biting his lower lips uncertainly. "What if there isn't a cure for what I got? What if it's something permanent or something that'll kill me?"

"It won't be!" Mel said certainty dripping from his words. "Trust me. You'll get better. I'm sure of it! You'll be back playing video games by tomorrow if it's checked out now."

Sighing Cabal relented. "Okay, but only if you'll be with me if it turns out to be something bad."

"Sure. It's a deal." He said shaking the redhead's hand happily. "We'd better get you to a nurse or someone who knows medicine stuff."

Nodding Cabal led Mel to the nurse's office, which was a small, closet sized room there was another room and it was much bigger and nicer, but that was called the 'examining room' and a girl was already in so Mel and Cabal had to wait for her to leave. She was shrimpy and skinny with bright green eyes and straw colored braids. She skipped out happily having Band-Aids on her left cheek, above her right eye, in the center of her forehead, on her chin, and several on her hands. "Don't worry about her dears she fell from a tree while playing outside." The nurse said seeing the shocked expressions on the boys' faces. "What are you two here for?"

Cabal removed his hands from around his nose and the nurse's eyes grew wide. "What happened?" she asked worriedly. "He said it's happened 'sometimes' and he hasn't told nobody. I told him that he'd get better if he saw somebody who knew medicine stuff." Mel explained. The nurse nodded and helped the redhead into the examination room where she told him to lay down. He done as told, but Mel could tell that he was nervous.

"Don't worry," He said softly, "everything is going to be okay. Right nurse lady?"

"Perhaps," she said with a sad look in her eyes, "but you boys must realize that this isn't normal. It's just not. I am sorry, but there isn't much I can do other than tell you to get ready for a trip to the hospital tomorrow. You'll need to have ex-rays taken and we just don't have that kind of technology here. I am sorry, but that's what is going to have to happen."

Both boys gulped fearing that something was horribly wrong. Cabal's fear quickly turned to anger. Jumping down to the floor and onto his feet. He glared angrily at Mel who seemed suddenly confused. "Liar!" he hissed angrily. "You said everything would be okay, but it's not! You're a stupid liar! I hate you!" Running off he left the blonde gaping with tears in his eyes. "It's okay, Mel," The nurse comforted, "if he had kept that bloody nose a secret he could very well have, quite possibly bled to death."

That didn't comfort Mel in the least. He headed for his room, but bumped into Glenda, who was sporting a black eye. Anger flashed through him replacing the regret and fear that had been there earlier. "What happened?" he asked concerned. Glenda's bottom lip trembled as she rubbed at her eyes trying to keep her tears from falling. Mel wondered who'd socked her in the eye and wondered what he'd do about it.

"I-I was playing outside an-and some older kids were bullying Nel, so since I am her friend I tried to help her out, but they started to shove me and then Bee got involved and one of the kids punched me in the eye! I just don't know what happened to Nel, b-but Bee got away…or I-I think he did…I hope he did. Oh, I don't know what I'd do if someone I knew got hurt!"

"Nel?"

"Yes!"

Mel felt real angry now. Whoever would bully her were out of their minds. She looked so nice and pretty. He then decided to first find out where Nel was to see if she was okay, and then he decided to find out who was responsible for teasing her and giving Glenda a black eye and thirdly and finally he decided to find Bee to hurt him for getting them in a worse situation, which he was sure was his fault. Giving Glenda a stern look he asked where Nel was, but Glenda crossed her arms and said she didn't know.

"Well, then I guess I'll explore this place until I find her. Then I want to know who was bullying you guys and then I'll find out where Bee went, so I can teach him a lesson."

Nodding wearily Linda sniffled.

"Nel likes to read. She could be in the library, but then again, she loves playing with toys and puzzles so she could be in The Common Room, on the other hand she doesn't really like being around people, so she could be hiding out in her room. Then again, she might need to buy more hair-dye so she could be speaking with Mr. Rodger about it. I think that is where she would be if not in the library."

"Hair-dye?" Mel muttered confusedly. "Why does she need hair-dye?"

"To dye her hair of course!" Glenda giggled sounding a bit shaky. "She said her real hair color is ugly, so she dyes her hair black."

"Oh." He said thoughtfully. "Well, don't worry I'll find her and make sure she's okay."

"Thanks."

Mel headed off to find Nel and luckily he found her on his first guess.


	8. Hurt

Yeah, this is short, but I was trying to be quick, so hope this is good.

~ TTFN ~

**~Luffles Fairylust~**

* * *

He'd found Nel.

She was hiding out in The Common Room among many of the toys. There was a sudden burst of moment and within moments someone joined her on the floor to play cars with. His happiness was destroyed the moment he saw who she was playing with. Two guesses. The answer is: Far.

Mel held his jealousy back though hoping to not ruin his new friendship with the small boy. "Hey." He said as he stood over the two.

"Hi." Nel said, while Far just looked at him blankly.

"Um, I ran into Glenda and was wondering if you were okay."

"Yes." She said monotonously. "Some older kids just decided to tease me. Glenda got worried over nothing. Bee was sweet to try and help, even though he just made things worse. I am sure that wasn't his intentions, though."

"Oh, okay, well what are you guys doing?"

"We are racing cars." She said sounding a bit annoyed this time. Mel winced not liking the way she spoke to him. It stung a little. "It's fun if you can actually keep the score accurate. Right Far?"

The smaller boy nodded in agreement.

"Can I play, too?" Mel asked. "Please, I can keep the score accurate and it looks fun."

Nel looked up to him with bored eyes. She started to idly play with her wispy black curl. Nel shook her head. "Far is the only person I wish to play with, thank you." She said before turning away from him as though she were dismissing him.

Her answer really hurt Mel's feelings. He was just trying to be nice, just trying to show her some kindness. Why did she have to be cold? Why didn't she at least pretend?

Upset Mel stormed off forgetting about the other two things he was going to do. He felt sick and felt like crying himself to death. His chest hurt and his head felt empty. When Mel was back in his room he crawled under the covers of his bed and just lay there. He didn't make a peep, but then all of a sudden he was crying. The tears were coming uncontrollably. There wasn't anything he could do to stop them. He felt his chest ache dully and his head started to hurt. He felt real dizzy thinking of all the events that had taken place in the past two or so days and he couldn't help, but also think of all the consequences.

He was obedient, nice, and respectful to his papa, but he was abandoned. He was benevolent to Far and now they were kinda, sorta friends. He tried to help Cabal, but now Cabal hated his guts because he had to go to the hospital. He was kind to Glenda and Glenda was nice back. He was nice to Nel and she gave him a cold shoulder. He already decided that he hated Bee. All these thoughts hurt.

It didn't matter whether they were good or bad they hurt and made him cry some more.

* * *

Sorry that this was mostly angst, but I am good at writing that, so yea sorry, but don't worry things get better!

*Smiles*

**~Luffles, FAIRYLUST~**


	9. Ice Queen

This is where I hoped to make things a bit better and where I decided to leave off until I can update later.

**~Fairylust~**

* * *

"Mel?" Glenda's gentle voice called to him from where she stood in the doorway. Mel noted that he would close it the next time he decided to cry silently alone. "Mel are you okay? Did the older kids beat you up, too?"

"…."

"Mel? Are you crying?"

"…."

"There is a package for you."

"…."

"I'll just leave it here for you, then."

"…."

"Bye."

He sniffled after a moment, and then he got up and went over to Cabal's bed where the package was left. He grabbed it, closed the door, locked it, and headed back over to his bed. The package was wrapped in black paper. He ran his fingers over the paper. He knew who had wrapped it. He'd seen this precise wrapping style several other times. A ghost of a smile crept onto his face as he opened it to find a rosary, which was wrapped in a white cloth. It was his papa's he just knew it. Mel put it on and marveled at how beautiful it was. Feeling a bit better he tossed the box to the floor and curled up under the covers again. This time he fell into a deep sleep. His dreams were very pleasant.

Cabal felt real bad for what he had said to Mel.

He knew that the blonde was just trying to help. It wasn't his fault he had to go to the hospital. Cabal sighed as he realized that he might have lost the only true friend he had in the entire world. That thought made him want to vomit. It just made him feel _so _sick. He headed for their room hoping Mel would accept his apology. He stopped immediately outside of their dorm room door when he heard muffled speaking from inside. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He bit his lip worried. What if Mel was hurt? What if he was _being_ hurt? He gave the door a tentative knock and to his surprise Mel answered almost immediately.

"Oh, hi, Cabal."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I heard you talking through the door."

"Oh," Mel said blinking without an expression, "it wasn't anything you'd care about."

"No, I _do_ care, Mel! I'm sorry for being a regal jerkface, but who were you talking to?"

"God."

"God?" Cabal echoed.

"Yeah." Mel replied, as he was given a confused stare, but he just nodded. "I was praying to Him."

"Which God?"

"My God."

Cabal fixed him with a blank stare.

"I'm Catholic!" he snapped. "I was praying to my God and I am Catholic, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, but why?"

"Because I had to. I forgive you. I'm going to go to bed." He said shortly stomping off across the room and crawling into bed. _Stupid Cabal._ He thought angrily. He was angry with everyone, well, almost everyone. He just tried to be nice to people, so there was no need for them to make him feel bad. Especially not his supposed 'friends' but Cabal _did_ seem genuinely concerned and sorry, so Mel forgave him, but wasn't sure if he could forgive anybody else. He still wanted to be Far's friend and he still kinda, sorta, maybe just a bit liked Nel, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to be her friend at all.

She was cold.

What did his papa used to call girls like her?

Oh yeah, she was an ice queen.

He bolted upright instantaneously when he felt someone beside him suddenly. He looked to see Cabal was beside him. He gave him a look of confusion. "What?" Cabal scoffed as he got beneath the covers. "You slept with me yesterday, so I should have a right to sleep with you now." He said as he yawned. "It's only six in the afternoon, you know, but whatever you want. Night."

"Night." Mel said quietly. He closed his eyes, but when he opened them he nearly screamed. Right above him, sitting on his chest was Far, who seemed to be a rather creepy sight to wake to. Mel felt his breath as it was caught in his throat. He finally collected all of his nerves and exhaled silently, shakily. He gazed at Cabal from the corner of his eye and saw that he was sound asleep. Mel let his body become rather relaxed and he practically felt his muscles as they un-tensed. Far didn't seem to have noticed he had frightened Mel and just watched him in silence, still managing to creep Mel out more than anything else in the world at the moment.

"What do you want, Far?"

"I can't sleep."

"You can't sleep?"

"It's bedtime and I can't sleep."

"Bedtime?"

Far nodded.

Mel glanced over to the clock, which hung just above the door, it was a cat clock, which meant it was in the shape of a small, black cat, but without a tail and the middle part was the clock. Anyway, the cat clock read eight o' clock. He had been asleep for two or so hours give or take. Knowing that simple fact made him feel less upset about being woken up. And he was still very sleepy, so he yawned and patted the empty space beside him. Far nodded accepting the invitation. Mel felt a bit bad for him, since he was having trouble sleeping. He was once four, as well.

And he remembered how angry he'd get if he didn't get an adequate amount of sleep. He feared what would happen if someone like Far was angry, really, really angry.

He snuggled up against Mel making the blonde feel a bit uncomfortable. He was being forced into the middle by his two best friends who wanted to sleep with him in a one-person bed that wasn't big enough for all of them, but Mel decided that if they were happy, then he could be happy too. As long as they didn't throw him out of bed, that is.

Mel was actually contented.


	10. A Best Friend Defends

The next morning he woke up to find that Cabal was in his bed and Far was still asleep with his arms wrapped around his waist. Mel yawned as he sat up. He saw that Far had brought his teddy bear with him. It sat at the end of the bed staring at him. He grabbed it and made sure that Far wrapped his arms around it instead of his friend's waist.

He jumped from bed and ran to get a shower and to get dressed for class. Mel combed his hair and made sure to get some breakfast from the kitchen, which came in the form of apple slices, two strawberries, some orange slices, chocolate milk, and a small piece of a chocolate bar. He didn't need much more to get through the day.

Mel headed back to his and Cabal's room to find that Far was already awake. He held onto his teddy bear tightly as he looked Mel over. "I see you are ready for class." Far said playing with his hair. It was so hard for him to resist sucking on his fist. That was probably part of the reason he couldn't sleep. He had grown accustomed to sucking his fist before sleeping. Now that he was quitting his habit it was hard for him to sleep.

"We've got a test today." Far said with a sad look. "It'll determine our new ranks."

"Ranks?"

"Nobody explained things to you, did they?" Far asked despite the fact he already figured nobody had. His first day there was similar to Mel's and nobody told him nothing. It was approximately three or four, no maybe it was five or so days later before he really, actually learned the truth of what was going on. "Mel," he said seriously, "I want you to listen to what I say real good. It's important."

"O-okay."

"Whammy's House isn't a normal orphanage. It houses three types of children. The first are us. We're the successors. The second are the ones who can be adopted. They are less important than us and are thus known as decoys. They aren't in the race to be a successor that's just for a special few of us. Twenty or so of us, to be exact, are successors."

"What? Really?"

"Yes, really, don't interrupt!"

"Sorry."

"Anyway, the third type of children is the ones who are neither decoys nor successors. They can be adopted by adults like decoys, but it isn't likely they will be, since they are almost old enough to be on their own, but honestly they are the same as the decoys. The only difference is that they are at that horrible age when they near adulthood. They are the pain in our necks, Mel, and when I say 'we' I mean children of our age group. They are mean, weird, and above all just plain confusing. Do you know what they are called?"

Mel shook his head.

"Teenagers." Far replied with a cute pouty face. "We always call them teenagers."

"Teenagers?" Mel echoed. "They're jerks, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know that." He mumbled. "Well, what do you mean when you say 'successors'? Who are we-"

"L."

"L?" Mel echoed again. "Who's L?"

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't have heard of him." Far said giving him a look of suspicious curiosity. _I'm not entirely sure I haven't heard of him._ Mel thought with a scowl. He began to think hard. He thought real hard and remembered something about before he came to Whammy's. It was just a few months earlier. He remembered exactly what had happened and the name L was indeed familiar now that he thought of it.

**~Flashback~**

_The day was cold, as weather normally was in Russia during the winter. It was nice and snowy outside. Mel decided to look around the house since his papa was working on something that he said was 'secret'. It was something that Mel was sure he wasn't supposed to know about. To pass the time the blonde wandered about the old house, which they were currently, temporarily living. After looking around for an hour, or at least what felt like an hour, he came back to talk to his papa, but found that he had left the house, unannounced, again. His curiosity told him to look at the laptop his papa was almost always working on, but his conscious told him it would be wrong._

_He chose to agree with his curiosity._

_Opening the laptop he found nothing in particular, until he clicked on a folder, which was labeled 'Headlines'. He found several (more than _just_several) newspaper clippings that had been copied and pasted into the file. All of them spoke of some detective known as L, but the one that caught his eye was the very strange headliner that read in big, black bold font: **L Wins Again, Kira Has Vanished Once More**._

_Mel had never heard of those names before. He read some and found that L was a very smart detective, but that was as far as he got. __Once he attempted to read the part of the article that was about Kira his papa was in the room, seeming to appear out of nowhere, and he grabbed the laptop. He closed it and glared at Mel. The boy knew what was coming, so it didn't come to him as much of a shock when a hand smacked him upside the head._

_"You weren't supposed to mess with that!" his papa snapped. "You knew better."_

_"S-sorry." he whimpered. "I was just peeking."_

_"Sorry doesn't work!" he snapped. He paused, then hesitated to speak more. He looked off to the side like there was something annoying there, but Mel knew he was just trying to calm down, so he didn't say anything that would hurt his feelings. Giving a loud, weary sigh he looked to his son with a scowl. "We'll talk about this later." he said sounding tired, but still upset. "I've got to go. Unlike you I have to work for a living. You're lucky to be a kid. I'll be back around two tomorrow in the afternoon, at the latest. You better not stay up."_

_"I won't." The small boy said looking up at his papa with large, sincere blue eyes. "Promise."_

_"Good." The man said seeming to soften his tone up a bit. "Behave and don't mess with my stuff, runt."_

_Mel gave him a weak smile, nodding. He wanted to keep talking, so that is papa could stay with him, just a bit longer before leaving to work, but Mel said nothing and it didn't take long before his papa ruffled his hair, gave a soft smile, turned, and then he was gone again. __Mel felt a familiar pain in his chest, but ignored it. __He had to be strong, like his papa was strong or else he would be nothing, but a sobbing mess until his papa got home, and then he'd have to watch his papa beat himself up over leaving Mel alone and about being a bad parent. Mel would disappoint and hurt his papa again, like he did the other times he let himself become a sobbing mess._

_And that was the last thing he wanted._

**~Flashback Over~**

"He's a detective." Mel said matter-of-factly. "I read something about him once."

"Hmm, the first?"

"First?"

"Yes." Far replied with a knowing nod. "There were three past Ls, but if you want to be accurate and not count the fake one, then there were two. It's secret, nobody is supposed to know, but I do my fair share of eavesdropping on Rodger and some guy, Rester, he's one of L's operatives, just so you know. Anyways, did you know about the first three?"

"I don't know. My papa didn't want me to read about him, I guess."

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

"He smacked me when he found out that I had read some stuff from his laptop. He didn't usually punish me with physical force unless I did something really bad, so I guess he didn't want me to know about him-"

"No." Far interrupted. "He probably didn't want you to know about Kira."

"Kira?"

"Yes."

"Who is that?"

"Kira was a mass murderer." Far explained grimly. "He was the man who killed the first L. He had somehow gained the ability to kill people by knowing their birth name and their face. Millions of people died. Good _and_ bad alike. He tried to shape the world to his liking, so that he could be that world's 'God'. He murdered the original L, so that he wouldn't get caught. He then paraded about pretending to be him, so that nobody would suspect the real one was dead, but Whammy's House was alerted, despite his attempt. Knowing L was dead made his top two successors come into the spot light. The two successors, at that time, separated and tried to take Kira down on their own. Several individuals, who all died later, whether it was Kira's doing or not, I am not certain, aided him. In the end, however, he was defeated by the second true L, also known as, Near."

"Near." Mel breathed wondering why that name, er, alias sounded familiar. "What about the other successor? You said there were two."

"It's written in the secret Whammy House successor records that he died and was reduced to ash and bone. In a television broadcast and in newspaper clippings I found it read an unknown body was found burnt in the cab of a wrecked truck. It remained unidentified and was supposedly disposed of randomly. There was no certificate of death, though. No real proof. I think they may be covering something up. It would make a lot of sense if you think about it. Whammy's is very secretive when it has to be."

Mel felt kind of sick again. He wondered if it was because he knew the truth or because he felt sorry for the successor who died. The sickness faded after a brief moment. Later, in class after the roll call was done and when the tests were passed out the teacher gave him and Far a stern glance and told them to behave themselves. Far exchanged a glance with Mel who gave him a look of confusion. 'Good luck.' Far mouthed, before sticking his tongue out at the blonde. Mel smiled a bit nodding, and then returning the childish gesture.

"Begin." The teacher said. That was when they all picked up their pencils and begun to write. "Remember this is a timed test and I have the eyes of a hawk, so no cheating." She said sharply, because a teacher had to be sharp or else their students would joke around and she knew that this was nothing to joke about. The rank of L's successor determined their future in Whammy's and what they may do when they were all grown. The math part seemed easy enough to Mel and Far, as they both finished quicker than everyone else and moved onto the reading part, which they passed through just as easily, but then they came to the next part and that was just another math part that was meant to be harder than the first math part had been. That was clear to them both by looking at the equations.

Equations such as:

99 multiplied by 3 equals?

33f plus 55f plus 80f minus 120f?

444y multiplied by 9v minus 55x divided by 2 and then plus 3v?

28 divided by 77 plus 7 equals?

620 divided by 3 minus 1 plus 2 divided by 7?

The answers seemed to come to them as easily as breathing did, though. It just took them a little longer to figure it all out.

297

48f

1971.5

7.36

29.6

Once done with that they moved on to history, then to correcting grammar, then to science questions, and then finally they moved on to the final part, which were just a few simple questions about elements and how they reacted when introduced to opposites.

Mel watched as the first two kids got up to turn in their tests, Bee and the boy known as Grendle left them on the teacher's desk in front of her. They then went back to their desks. Mel felt resentful towards Bee, mostly because he didn't finish before Bee had, but Mel didn't dwell on that for too long, because he felt he did a great job, he thought Far did too because he seemed real calm and collected. They both finished at the exact same moment. Getting up they turned their tests in and went back to their desks.

'Good work.' Mel mouthed to Far who grinned a bit and mouthed the same thing back to his friend. Far started to make origami out of construction paper he'd brought and put under his desk, meanwhile Mel decided to just watch, since he didn't have anything else to really do. He watched as Far paused in making his origami and started to unrap mints and eat them at an unnatural rate, before he began on origami swans and hippos, which seemed to be his favorites, were constructed. There was a pause. He tore those apart and threw them in the trash, before making more origami. Mel watched with interest as several multicolored swans and hippos appeared on the small boy's desk followed by origami cranes and frogs.

They were all really pretty.

Mel watched as the next person, to finish the test, was the boy who was called, Aaron. He looked about two years older than Mel with short blue-gray hair, pale skin, and dark blue eyes.

After him it was the boy known as Lolli, and then it was the kid who was called, Rory. The boy, who Mel guessed, was known as Sage, followed him closely. The first girl to finish was, surprisingly, Collie. She scampered back to her desk once the test was turned in and she kept real quiet. Mel liked how timid Collie was. It made her appear very cute.

Glenda and Jacob followed Collie. Nel seemed to be one of the last few people to turn her test in. The teacher told them to sit quietly while she graded the tests. And she graded tests surprisingly fast. It only took half an hour, maybe less time give or take, before she was finished with all twenty-one of the tests. She seemed grim, though. "Mel, Far I would like you both to go to Rodger's office now." She said making both boys exchange a confused look.

They got up and headed that way. Once there they saw that the old man, Rodger, had finished speaking on a cell phone. They quickly figured that the teacher had called him to speak with him about them. Rodger gave both of them a stern look. Mel knew something was wrong. Far gave him a look of innocence and Mel could sense he thought the same thing. Rodger sighed before giving them a soft, but stern expression.

"I was told that you boys were caught doing something wrong in class." He said sounding kinda thoughtful, but stern all the same. "Would you like to explain?"

"We didn't cheat!" Mel blurted out.

"I never said anything about cheating."

"But that's the only possible thing it could be!" Mel argued. "We were testing, the teacher sent us here after she checked our tests, and now you're saying we did something wrong, so that means you think we cheated, but we didn't!"

"Well, according to Miss. Annabel, you two turned your tests in at the same time and had the exact same answers."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Far did _you_ cheat?"

The small boy looked at the old man with defiant eyes. Mel felt himself tense. Far looked to him and then back to Rodger. His eyes softened rather dramatically. "No." he said with sincere honesty. Mel smiled glad that Far was there. If he were alone then he was sure he'd have drowned in the conversation. "I am sorry, but given your reputation I cannot believe you, Far, I am sorry." Rodger apologized, not seeming sorry at all.

Mel felt himself wilt in defeat. He wasn't a cheater! Why couldn't the old man believe that? Was it because of the evidence against him…or just because of Far's reputation as a jerk-face? He wasn't sure, but he didn't want to get punished for something he didn't do. His body trembled involuntarily as thoughts of punishments flashed through his mind. The future suddenly seemed frightening and quite gloomy. Mel looked like he was about to start crying or like his eyes would leak sweat as some of the teenage boys claimed when they wereready to start weeping. Seeing this Far narrowed his eyes, the defiance was back in all of its glory.

He jumped up to his feet puzzling Rodger. "Fine." He mumbled. "I did it, I cheated off Mel's test." He said quietly crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Punish me, leave Mel alone." Far said suddenly turning his back to Rodger as though not wanting to face him, due to anger. The blonde boy gaped at him. Far just kept an expressionless face on, but Mel knew he was probably feeling real upset about having to take the blame for something neither of them did. Mel knew that he was probably going to get sent away for getting into trouble again, but he couldn't let that happen! It just wasn't right! Far didn't deserve to die or to get punished when he didn't do anything…this time.

"No way!" Mel exclaimed rushing to the small boy's defense. "Far didn't cheat! I did!"

"No, I did." Far said calmly.

"No I did!" Mel snapped.

"No I did."

"No I did!"

"No I did."

"No I did!"

"No I did."

"No I did!"

"No I did."

"No I did!"

"Stop trying to defend me." Far said coolly. "You didn't do anything bad, you prissy pig."

"Stop trying to take all the blame, you selfish jerk!" Mel snapped. "I'm trying to be a good friend!"

"The best of friends are always the ones who let you use them as a human bait against zombies."

"That isn't true!" Mel shouted in disbelief. "The best of friends are the ones who take the blame and protect their other friends from getting into trouble, which they don't deserve to get into, like now, like what I'm trying to do for you, so you don't get sent away and die at some other orphanage."

"Boys," Rodger sighed obviously weary of hearing this argument, "it is obvious that you want to protect each other, despite the fact you seemed to hate each other before."

"We're friends now." Mel said with restrained calmness. "Please don't send Far away! He didn't do anything wrong! Neither of us did, but if you want to punish one of us for cheating then it'll be me. I cheated, okay? Leave him alone. He'll get punished later anyway."

"Hey!" Far exclaimed offended.

"What? It's true." Mel said rolling his eyes. "I bet you're planning to put another tack on the teacher's chair or to sabotage the food in the kitchen, somehow."

"I would never!" Far said looking at Mel as though he couldn't believe what he was being accused of, but he _was_ planning to mess with the food.

Rodger smiled a bit. "I'll speak with Annabel and we'll consult a third party about this." He said, as he was starting to believe that they hadn't cheated at all. "You may be excused, Far."

The small boy left paler than before. He gave his friend an apologetic glance before exiting the room in silence. Mel sat looking at the man worriedly. Rodger could see he was afraid of getting scolded or punished so he gave him a friendly smile and told him to not worry that he wasn't in trouble and Mel _did_ seem to relax afterwards. Rodger suddenly got up and stared out the window, which was behind his desk.

"I am very proud of you, to be honest." He said as he kept looking out the window. "I've never seen Far open up to anyone or speak as much as he did just now. In fact, I don't believe I have seen him protect anyone as he did. That boy has always watched out for himself and always tried to care about himself, not wanting to get attached to anyone."

"Okay." Mel said with a blank expression. "Is it good he protected me?"

"Yes, yes it is. In fact, I think that he may benefit from your friendship."

"Okay."

"I want you to be a good role model for him, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. You may be dismissed. I've a phone call to make."

Mel felt frozen where he was, so he was then dismissed for a second time. He left dumbstruck by what just occurred. He eventually snapped out of his stupor and headed back for class. When he got there he took his seat and found that there wasn't much more to be taught, in fact, class ended two seconds after he sat down.

As soon as he left and got into the hall he felt anger pulse through him.


	11. The Jars

**Yayz! I finally updated. I know not many people like OCs but I adore them & the fact I plan on mixing them with real characters later just makes it all the more fun!**

**Anywayz, I'm glad I've updated I believe I'm gonna update this story more often. I like it, but know I gotta work on my other stories, too.**

**For those of you who are actually reading this thank you sooo much and I hope you enjoy this chappie.**

**;^P**

**~Luv, Fairylust~**

* * *

He saw Percy teasing small, silver-haired Far. There were two older boys that weren't in their class with him. All three of them had the small boy cornered almost against the wall behind him, but Far didn't appear frightened, no, he appeared defiant and tense like he were ready for a fight.

"Why don't you talk, huh?" one boy sneered.

"He's not mute, is he?" another jeered. "That'd just make him a freaky mute!"

"No, he doesn't say anything because he's too stupid." Percy said through clenched teeth as he shoved Far hard enough to make him hit against the wall, so that he was completely cornered. Mel felt really angry now. It was an unfair fight the three bullies were attempting to start. He noticed that he refused to meet their gaze and kept his eyes on the floor.

That defiance he shown earlier seemed to have vanished.

Was he scared?

Or was he just trying to be stubborn and _not _be afraid of the three boys who were teasing him? Mel watched as one of the older boys grabbed a fistful of Far's hair and started to pull. The blonde had no idea why he didn't speak up, but he just stood watching as the pale boy's mouth kept shut, despite how much he must've been hurting. Percy smacked the younger boy across the face and against his will the blonde felt his legs move.

He ran shoved Percy forwards sending him headfirst into the wall. The two boys tried to help him and that gave Mel time to grab his friend's wrist and lead him off away from them. Running down the hall it was only a matter of time before they ran into someone. Mel recognized him as the boy with black hair and dark colored eyes, which he now saw were a dark gray color, and who wore a dark gray hoodie with jeans and filthy looking tennis shoes. Lolli. That was his alias. Unsure whether it was good or bad luck to have ran into Lolli Mel looked back behind him hearing the three boys coming after him.

"Bullies?" Lolli guessed seeing the look of fear on the blonde's face.

"Y-yes." Mel said nodding fearfully.

"Follow me." He sighed turning to and opening a door that was just to his right. It had a warning on the center of the door in big, red paint: **Enter And Die!**

It frightened the two boys, so Mel and Far both hesitated at first to exchange a brief glance. "Come on." Lollie said sounding slightly annoyed. For a moment he wondered why he was even bothering with these two, but he already knew the answer, so he urged them to follow once more. Again they hesitated and the sound of footsteps grew nearer. Lollie could practically hear his heartbeat as it increased in tempo. The two younger boys followed him, at last, and were both surprised when they were suddenly surrounded by complete, total darkness.

The footsteps passed the room and kept going until they faded down the hall.

Suddenly, without warning, a light came on and they both had to close their eyes so that they could adjust. "Where are we?" blonde murmured upon seeing the room had white tarps covering whatever furniture there was. He noticed that the floor was coated in a thick layer of dust, so thick he could see Lollie's footprints and the windows were so dusty that no light could get in or out. There were jars stacked neatly in what seemed like an endless supply in a closet. Some stray jars lay here and there, but were too dusty and old to reveal what they had once contained. All of the walls, which seemed to have once been a pale baby-blue color, were faded to a near white. The whole, entire room smelt musty and old, so Mel knew nobody lived there. It seemed as though the room, itself, had been forsaken for years on end. Why else would it be in its current state?

"What is this place, Lollie?" Mel asked seeing that he was bent down over a jar carefully examining it.

"A mystery room." Lollie replied after a moment of standing back up. "Nobody used this room since way back before we were born. From my guess our parents may not have been born, yet when this room was in use. No, maybe that's a bit too far back. Maybe they were infants? Toddlers, perhaps? I don't know, but those are my best guesses from looking at how thick this dust is and how faded the walls are."

"Mystery?" Far echoed curiously.

"Yeah." Lollie said with a nod. "When I first arrived here, I was three, and I accidentally literally stumbled into this room trying to avoid some of the older kids who liked to tease me. A teacher, which will remain unnamed, but has worked here since the person, who lived here was a kid, found me. They seemed real upset, so they took me to Rodger's office and Rodger told me, very harshly may I add, that I wasn't ever allowed in this room again. He said it had a history that must remain a secret, for as long as anyone lived in this orphanage. It spiked my interest and curiosity quite a bit. Ever since I have been slipping in and out of this room so that I could learn about it some more."

"Have you learned anything?" Mel asked.

"I've already concluded that these jars aren't regular jars."

"Oh?"

"I've been comparing with others in the orphanage but none match."

"Why do you think that? There should be other sized jars like that."

"Yes, there are the same sizes, but none feel right."

"Feel?"

"You both better swear not to tell anyone what I'm gonna tell you."

"We swear." Mel said jabbing the smaller boy in the ribs when he started to disagree. The smaller boy gave him a glare, but that was it, surprisingly.

"Okay." He said quietly, breathing softly. "Whenever I get something right or when I think something that is about to happen will happen, I just get a feeling that it will happen, and then it does."

"You mean a gut feeling?" Mel asked touching his own stomach lightly. "Is that what you mean?"

"No, it's not that. Look, I feel when I get close to the truth or not. I can't explain the feeling, but it's odd. And I never feel that the jars I get match these, so therefore none of them do match. So, I think that the staff here is hiding something significant from us and that makes me curious. And when I say something, I mean something that must be so bad none of us are to know about it, but that makes me really want to know. Tell me, if you think I sound completely crazy?"

Mel shook his head, but was secretly questioning himself.

Far stared at him with half-lidded eyes that were obviously mocking.

"What do you _really_ think?" Lollie asked narrowing his eyes at Far, both were stoic and on par with their current thoughts, therefore they were having the same thought patterns at the moment. "You know I'm a bit crazy, huh?"

"No."

"No?"

"Unconventional."

"Yeah, sure." He said turning his gaze back to the jars. "Could you guys help me?"

"Why?" Mel inquired feeling a bit uncomfortable now. "Can't you figure this out yourself, I mean, why do you need our help with finding out what jars these are? It isn't important to us. Can't you do that yourself?"

"Not without getting caught." He replied. "Look, it isn't easy for me to ask you guys for help, but if you won't I understand. I just got to know what this room was. I need to know. I feel…it is…important. Somehow…it's…important…to Bee."

This caught Far's attention.

"Bee?" Mel questioned noticing his companion's sudden interest.

"Yeah. I get a feeling when I'm around this room. It's an unnatural feeling. And when I'm around Bee I get that same feeling…." He trailed off and that was when Mel noticed tears were slipping from the corners of the elder boy's eyes. Both Far and Mel exchanged glances then, before looking directly to Lollie.

"It's unnatural. That same feeling it isn't like the others I get. It's not supposed to hurt, but when I get around Bee it started to hurt here." He said placing his hand to a spot on his head. Mel felt guilty now that he wasn't willing to help, but something just didn't seem right about the atmosphere in the room, now. It was scary.

"You'd think it'd make me stay away, but it doesn't. Am I stupid or what? I keep going around Bee and keep feeling that same unnatural pain. I'm just lucky this place has painkillers, you know?"

"Y-you aren't stupid, but I can't help you and neither can Far. We'll get into tons of trouble if we're caught."

Mel expected the elder boy to be angry, but he was as calm as he was before Mel spoke his answer. He appeared blank. After a moment he sighed and nodded. "Okay." He said calmly. "I understand, but I ask that if you see or know anything about Bee having a like for jars, then do you promise to tell me? Maybe it'd be the same jars."

"Sure. See you, Lollie. Good luck."

"Bye."

He waved them away as he continued to focus on the jars.

* * *

**Again, for those of you who are actually reading this thank you sooo much and I hope you enjoy this chappie.**

**;^3**

**~Luffles, Fairylust~**


	12. A New Friendship

**I know this story isn't popular but for my own sanity I'll try to complete this story before next summer, at least. Kudos to those who've decided to stick reading this, though I SERIOUSLY doubt you're here anymore.**

**~Luv, Fairylust~**

* * *

He waved them away as he continued to focus on the jars. Once back in the halls the two friends looked around to make sure that nobody was around, and then headed off for The Common Room, which had a couple other children there. "He's psychic, you know." Far said as he played with a Rubik Cube. "He must believe that Bee is or has something to do with some other supernatural force."

"I can believe it." Mel said frowning. "Bee sure is a creep."

"He is very intelligent."

"But he's a weird show-off!"

"Mel, you shouldn't speak of Bee like that!" Far hissed. "He may be odd, but aren't we all? Everybody needs someone or something special. What Bee needs is sympathy. If others were kind to him, maybe he wouldn't show off to get attention."

"Yeah, maybe." Mel murmured. "What do you think happened to Bee's parents? I mean we were abandoned, but was he?"

"I am unsure. I haven't had time to get to know him real well, but then again I really don't want to get inside his head. I'm afraid that if I even try I won't get out alive." He grinned for a spilt second at that, but his scowl was swift to make a come back. "I was trying to, at first, you know, but then he was forced to not be my roommate. All I really know is that he is really smart, devious, a good spy, and he has a few odd habits that puzzle me, even now."

"Like what?"

"He smiles a lot for one thing. Another thing he does is sit in an odd crouch position when he's really thinking hard on something. He also seems to like walking slouched a bit. I've noticed that he likes to fight with his words, but is fairly strong."

"Huh, do you think he'd like me?" Mel asked. "I don't like him, but does he like me?"

"I don't think so seeing as you started a fight that got him forced into another room and caused him to get in trouble with Rodger. He seemed upset about that."

"Oh, do you think I should apologize? I would feel truly horrible, but possibly, just maybe, it'd be an act of kindness that will help him in some way in the future."

"That sounds about right." Far nodded as he continued to play with the Rubik Cube. "Do unto others as they have done to you. Isn't that what your bible says somewhere?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He replied standing up. "See you around Far. I'm gonna go apologize. Then I'll see if Cabal is back from his appointment. We'll meet you at lunch, if he's back. That's a promise so meet us there."

"See you."

Mel padded off, but stopped as soon as he realized he had no idea where Bee would be at he stopped and frowned. He continued on after deciding to ask someone where the oddball was currently. When he found out that Bee was in his room he then had to ask _someone else _where Bee's room was. And after he found out _that _information he had to find somebody who could take him to that room, because it was located far from his and Cabal's and Far's rooms. He was just glad when he found out everything he needed to know. Once in Bee's room he sighed feeling irritated to see it was empty.

"Come on!" he shouted frustrated. "Why the hell did I even bother trying to find that creep! He's such a jerk! He's just a real-"

"I'm just a real what?" Bee's voice called from underneath his bed. Mel gawked for a moment, before he got on his stomach and faced Bee who was smiling a bit. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Are you here to beat me up, small fry?"

"Who are you calling small fry?" He huffed indignantly. "Never mind. Look I just came here to say that I'm really sorry about, you know everything bad that I did to you since I got here. So, will you accept my apology? Far thinks this will be good for you."

"What does that runt know?" he snorted. "Whatever. I guess so."

"Kay. Glad you accepted my apology. Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"I'm just, you know, hiding from bullies."

"Bullies?"

"Percy and his thugs."

"Ah. Why are they after you?"

"Apparently, it's because they think I'm a weirdo."

"You are."

"Yeah, I know, but I can't help who I am." He said rolling his eyes. "Can you help being who you are?"

Mel shook his head. "I don't think I could be anyone else." He said softly.

"You will be someday." Bee said wisely. "People change as they grow and personally I think Far is pretty smart separating himself from the world. Why get attached to someone when they're going to die? Death can't be avoided."

Mel nodded, but not in agreement. He didn't think Far should keep away from people. If anything Mel wanted Far to get closer to people, because then he'd be stronger. So that way he wouldn't be alone and weak and helpless. He would be safe and strong and he'd also be independent. Mel knew death was unavoidable, but he also knew that he didn't have to think of death and neither did anyone else. Not while they were children, because it was so far away. Right? Death only occurred to adults and old people, right?

Wasn't that how things worked? Shaking these depressing thoughts away he got up and watched as Bee came out from underneath the bed. "Anyways, I'm just glad I ditched those jerks." He said with a smirk. "They got distracted when they saw that Grendle kid. I don't know why, but they seemed to just stop chasing me and turned their attention to him."

"Grendle?"

"Yeah. That's his alias. You know him, you should know him anyway, he's a kid in our class."

"I know he's in our class, but why would those bullies stop to talk to him?"

"I don't think they wanted to talk." Bee said scratching the back of his head. "I mean they tried talking to me with their fists and managed to get a few punches in. I got a hit and kick in here and there, but three against one just isn't fair. I feel bad for that poor sap, but he isn't a friend of mine, so…." He let his voice trail off as he shrugged and headed for the door. "Well, you'd better be getting off to the magical land of out of my room, because I need to do some stuff in here and I don't want you to watch and copy me."

"Fine." Mel said with a grin. "I won't stay. I'll just go talk with Cabal."

"Sure, why not? It's better than you being here. You do that. Bye."

Mel left hurriedly and raced down the hall, but collided with Cabal, who appeared to have been crying. Mel gasped upon seeing stitching on his forehead and he wondered what had happened to the redhead. He seemed to be very upset. Even though he knew the answer already Mel couldn't help, but to speak and say a question that he already knew must have been horrible. "Are you okay?" he choked out. Cabal appeared grim and distressed about something, which Mel guessed was what the doctors had told him at the hospital. Cabal shook head and then wrapped his arms around Mel's neck and began to choke him. He could feel his air supply diminish with every second.

Mel gasped, but was quick to realize that Cabal _wasn't_ choking him, but was hugging him. Actually, he was hugging the life from him. He managed to get away from the boy, but Cabal just wrapped his arms around Mel's waist and hugged him even more. The blonde was befuddled as to what had caused his friend to act as he was.

"Hey, what's with all the hugging and crying?"

"Thank you!" his friend shouted hugging him tighter than before. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, so much!"

"For what?" he asked trying to pull away. "Why are you thanking _me_?"

"When-when I went to the hospital," he said a bit shakily at first, "I thought like it was nothing. Just a few random nosebleeds, you know no big deal, but after the doctors did some tests and scans they found out that-that I-I had a clot. You know, a blood clot, around my brain and blood wasn't getting there right, so my body was giving me nosebleeds. An-and they said that if I hadn't gotten to them when I did, then I'd have died! Oh, thank you Mel! You're the best-est friend anyone could ever ask for! I don't care what you want or how you want whatever you need or want, but from here on out I'm your best friend and I'll do whatever I can to thank you! I owe you huge for this! I owe you my life! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Mel!"

The blonde was speechless. Did he really save Cabal's life? Did he save his _best _friend's life just by making him go to a nurse? Was it really that simple? He felt dazed all of a sudden and all he could do was gape at the stitching on his friend's forehead.

"They gave me surgery and said that I should be okay from here on out."

"That's great." Mel said feeling dazed still. "I-I am real glad you're okay, now. Have you told everyone else about what happened?"

"No." he replied frowning. "But I will." He said letting a grin take over his face. "I swear I will or else I'll be eating veggies for a week!" With that said he ran off down the hall clearly excited to be alive and well.

_My best friend._ Mel thought proudly with a smile. The smile didn't last long, though, because as he was walking down the hall a thought began to trouble him_. But if Cabal if my best friend, then is Far just my friend? Could I really have two best friends?_


End file.
